Hassells in the Highlands

On the Swilken Bridge in 2017 Many golfers pine of making the pilgrimage to walk the hallowed grounds of St. Andrews. Many dream of playing the Old Course, and to many, it will always be just that, a dream.   You know the kind that causes you to momentarily lose focus on the world around you and, for a brief moment, you are oblivious to your surroundings as you visualize yourself teeing off of the 18 th hole in anticipation of walking across the Swilken Bridge.   After living in Scotland for nearly a year, I knew my opportunity, as slight as it was, to actually “play” the course was slipping away.   Jodi and I had already accomplished the feat of walking the grounds, which we did last August in between our trip to Venice and Edinburgh where we experienced “The Fringe” and attended the Military Tattoo.   While we were at St. Andrews I of course had my picture taken on the famous Swilken Bridge. So, in a sense, a golfers dream was achieved…….but deep in the recesses of my golf

At the River Ness Mom has always enjoyed traveling. That’s probably why she enjoyed being an Air Force wife.  Or maybe that is what started the interest.  For a woman who grew up in a very small town where everyone literally knew everyone else, she ended up traveling to many parts of the world. At Urquhart Castle Six months after I was born, our family lived in Okinawa, Japan. After that, we lived in Las Vegas, NV, England for 4 years, and back to Las Vegas until after I grew up and moved away.    Mom has traveled many places around the US, all over the UK, been to Germany, Venice, Spain, and a few other small countries in Europe. She has always enjoyed the travel itself, as well as appreciated the beautiful and different sights she would see in new places. But like a lot of people today, Mom has trouble with her knees.      What you may not know is that she had two bad knees and had the worse knee replaced last spring. Recovery was long.   Now the n